BEST-mix.net - DDR Simfile Tournament

NOTE: BLueSS reserves the right to change any part of the tournament if needed.

SCHEDULE - UPDATE: TIMES MOVED BACK 2 WEEKS
(ALL TIMES BELOW ARE UPDATED)
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Sunday, August 19th:
- Files Due

Friday, August 24th:
- DDR & ITG Division files (bracket 1) released

Friday, August 31st:
- Bracket 1 Results
- DDR & ITG Division files (bracket 2) released

Friday, September 14th: (Extended due to lack of judging)
- Bracket 2 Results
- Wildcard Starts

Wednesday, September 19th:
- Wildcard Finish
- Semi-Finals Starts

Friday, September 21st:
- Semi-Finals Results
- Final Round Voting Open

Friday, September 28th:
- Final Results


RULES
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Overview
- Following in the path of the previous 2 tournaments, FINAL will NOT have anonymous entries.
- No aliases allowed. With this being the final one, I want everyone to be able to be proud of the file they entered, and show it off as their work.
- As in BM4, there will be an ITG and a DDR style division.
- NEW: For the first (and only time) in BEST-mix history: you are allowed to enter 3 files but max of 2 per division. THE GOAL of this is to encourage taking a risk with the 3rd file. Make a chart you wouldn't normally; step a song that isn't popular; make a ridiculous chart! Just don't make 2 cookie-cutter files because that's kinda boring. :P
If you enter two files in the same category, only 1 of your simfiles can move on to the finals. If both files qualify to move on, the entrant may choose which file moves on to compete.

General Guidelines
EDIT: - 25MB zip file size limit (Raised from 20MB)
- .SM File required
- All judging should be performed in Stepmania (What version do all the cool kids use these days?)
- The simfile you enter must be new for this tournament. You cannot use any simfile you have already released. Once the tournament is over, you may release the files as much as you want.
- Must include a Readme file describing at least the step-artist and who did the graphics.

Stepcharts
- ONLY 2 CHARTS ARE REQUIRED - but more than 2 are always well received by the public.
- Judging will only involve the 2 hardest charts in the file (excluding edits, beginner, and basic charts. So you can choose either Medium / Expert combo, or a Expert / Challenge combo)

- For DDR Style: No Mines, Rolls, Handplants, shock arrows, etc. Use the old foot rating system for difficulties (Extreme/SuperNova ratings) and NOT the X series re-numbering. Harder charts seen in the DDR X series are allowed though.
- For ITG Style: Any game element used in ITG 1 & 2 is allowed.

Song
- .MP3 or .OGG required. 128 bitrate or higher.
- 1:00-3:00 minute length.
- No song restrictions. Songs will be reserved on a first-come bases in the "Song Reservation" thread. (Note: Songs with excessive profanity or vulgar content are prohibited. This is at BLueSS's discression alone. If your song is questionable have BLueSS screen it in advance in case you need to find a different song.)

Banner - Required
- PNG Required
- [For DDR Files] 256x80 px, or higher multiplier (RECOMMEND at least 512x160)
- [For ITG Files] 418x164 px, or higher multiple
- AVI Banner optional (Normal PNG Banner Must be included if using an animated one)
- Artist and Title required.

Background - Required
- PNG Required
- 640x480 px, or higher multiple (RECOMMEND at least 800x600)
- Song Title required, Artist optional.

SCORING
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Round 1: Public Reviews

Files will be broken down into smaller sub-brackets for this scoring.
In the PR thread, you will choose one of the 3 options. All of the songs in a sub-bracket must be evaluated.

Option 1: Complete Review (25 points/song)
- Heavy (10), secondary chart (10), presentation (5), and tilt (±1)
Option 2: Partial Review (15 points/song)
- Heavy (10), presentation (5), and tilt (±1)
Option 3: Approval Vote (5 points/song)
- Typical approval vote style; vote for as many songs as desired, each vote awards equal points (5)

Scores will be averaged by total number of points divided by total number of reviews and approval voters for each particular entry. Top 50% move on to...

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Round 2 - Semi-Finals: Bracket Showdown in groups of 4 Files
Using an elimination based bracket matchup (think NCAA March Madness) songs will be seeded by their score from the previous round and put into groups of 4. Top ranked files will pair up against low seed ranks (for the purpose of weeding out the "low files". Example: files 1 and the lowest ranked (say 24) are paired alongside file #2 and #23. There may be a wildcard vote during this round for files that barely missed round 2.
The public votes for the top 2 files (top 50% again) from each bracket, which move on to...

Final Round: Approval Voting.
I don't think there could be a more proper ending for a BEST-mix than the unique voting system I've used in the previous tournaments. This will take the top 50% from round 2 and disregards scores from previous rounds.

All forum members (except newly registered voters with no posts) can vote for as many files as they want to win BEST-mix. Each vote is 1 point, and the winner is the file with the highest amount of votes.

HOW TO ENTER
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There is 1 thread for both DDR entries and ITG entries.
Song reservation is a first-come/first-served basis.

Make 1 post with all of your entry details. You should read (or search) through all the previous posts to ensure nobody has chosen your song. If you want to change your song, make a new post and delete the previous one (or edit it blank). This will help to make sure there isn't a sneaky post edit that someone reserving a song won't see.


Post any questions / comments below! :)

My file is 26.8MB compressed (27.1MB uncompressed) may I have permission to break the 20MB file size limit?

Reason for the large size is mostly video which is 3:35 even though every single frame of the video is displayed during the song. Song length is 2:59.77, I cut the song down and sped it up to get it under the 3:00 limit which is why the video is longer it plays at a higher speed. .mp3 is 5.48MB and video is 20.6MB. Just one file entry for me, so may I break the 20MB limit otherwise I'll have to drop out even though I'm about 90% complete.

Just cut the video the the intended length. It's not hard to do.

Akira wrote:Just cut the video the the intended length. It's not hard to do.

I did, that's why I said every single frame in the video is displayed. Video runs at 120% speed so you get all 3:35 during the song.

VirtualDub

1. Open Video
2. Choose Video>Frame Rate
3. Multiply the framerate of the video to your desired amount (in your case, f x 1.2)
4. Insert the resulting number to "Change Frame Rate to (fps)"
5. Insert the original framerate on "Convert to fps"
6. ???
7. PROFIT

and you got a sped up video with a smaller size.

Akira wrote:VirtualDub

1. Open Video
2. Choose Video>Frame Rate
3. Multiply the framerate of the video to your desired amount (in your case, f x 1.2)
4. Insert the resulting number to "Change Frame Rate to (fps)"
5. Insert the original framerate on "Convert to fps"
6. ???
7. PROFIT

and you got a sped up video with a smaller size.

Thanks I'll try it, but my file will still be over 20MB, probably around 23-24MB if it works well enough.

Choose a lower bitrate, I had to sacrifice quality on my self-produced video for Tweet Tweet so that it would fit and abide by the rules.

EDIT: Where should we send entries this time?

Akira wrote:Choose a lower bitrate, I had to sacrifice quality on my self-produced video for Tweet Tweet so that it would fit and abide by the rules.

No, I'd rather just pull out than to decrease the video quality further.

Assuming nobody else has a problem with this (I don't see why they would) I'd be fine with raising the per-file limit to 25 MB, Compressed. While I don't think a song+video combo forced to fit in 3:00 which was intended for a longer timespan will turn out well, video and picture quality is increasing these days and our internet speeds (at least most of us in the USA) have gotten a lot better than they were 4-6 years ago. :)

BLueSS wrote:Assuming nobody else has a problem with this (I don't see why they would) I'd be fine with raising the per-file limit to 25 MB, Compressed. While I don't think a song+video combo forced to fit in 3:00 which was intended for a longer timespan will turn out well, video and picture quality is increasing these days and our internet speeds (at least most of us in the USA) have gotten a lot better than they were 4-6 years ago. :)

Muchos gracias, I think you'll be surprised at how quickly 3:00 goes by. Will upload as soon as I fix the video, everything else is complete.

I managed to implement Akira's suggestion, result was a video that was unstable, it did not play faster it simply played for a few seconds then cut frames out and jumped ahead, I was not happy with the results.

I'll have to pull out due to my 26.85MB file size, but I'll still try to participate in voting.

is it legal to include a ITG-style chart as edit difficulty in an DDR file? it isn't supposed to "count", just as an extra

if not i'll just pull the chart before submission

k//eternal wrote:is it legal to include a ITG-style chart as edit difficulty in an DDR file? it isn't supposed to "count", just as an extra

Sure, that's fine! Edit charts are free to be whatever the author would like.

Hey

I'm new to this and just wanted to run something by the admin real fast. The two songs I've edited down clock in at 3:04 and 3:05 respectively, with no steps occurring after the 3 minute mark. The couple spare seconds are merely for smooth fade out purposes, is it okay to leave them in or should I edit right down to 3:00?